Unmasked
by uchihaotakuhime
Summary: KakaHina. [On-going] "And with her mask, she concealed the girl and became a woman in all matters of heart and head." An older, ANBU-hardened Hinata is arranged to marry the hokage, Kakashi. They learn to love the person behind the masks they wear.
1. Chapter 1

She was twenty-six.

He was the hokage.

And she was going to marry him.

To her, he had never been more than the sensei of her beloved crush of many years.

She was aware he had a dark past. That he was intelligent. An excellent shinobi. Good at, it seemed like, everything - teaching, leading, fighting. She had trusted him whenever he leaded Team 8 on missions and she had felt safe. That he was handsome, maybe. But she was never into older men.

At first Hinata felt nothing. Surprise, perhaps a little. (Him? Of all people.) Mostly just numb. The age difference was appalling, but then her clan was indifferent about that. It was about the status and control. She was, after all, nothing but a name now.

She would not have been the first to realize her sweetness had turned a little bitter after the war. After Neji had died for her, after her admiration for Naruto had dimmed. Her soft edges had hardened and so had her smile, traces of her old tenderness reserved in flashes for Mirai or Hanabi and with her old team. Gone was the blush from her girlhood, the stutter of her naivety.

Just like many others in her village, she also tried to rebuild, though she tried to from within her clan. Her father only sighed. "Daughter. All hope for the Hyuuga was lost long ago," he said tiredly, as if he was explaining to a petulant child. "What would you have us do? You are unsealed. Be grateful."

And he had brushed her away like he had so many times before. Because what could Hinata do? Naruto hadn't even as much glanced her way after the memorial service. She saw the way he had done nothing to absolve Sasuke and his fallen clan. She saw the way her own clan picked up where it had left off and she saw every three year old from the branch clan with a fresh seal on their forehead. Without Neji, she was spared hardly a glance by the elders, and the future of the clan was placed in Hanabi. She loved Hanabi. But poor, sweet Hanabi was too influenced by the clan, by her father, to know anything else, to believe in a new future.

And she had had enough.

She had refused jounin status and the offer to lead a new generation of genin, like most of the rest of her classmates, and instead joined an almost nonexistent ANBU scouting and surveillance force, where she would spend the least amount of time at home. With Shino and his interests in becoming a teacher at the academy and Kiba with his in a certain cat girl, their team was all but disbanded. And with her mask, she concealed the girl and became a woman in all matters of heart and head. As her job required her to be callous, she became one with it. She often went months, sometimes years, without word from home. This, she presumed, was her life sentence and yet, a sort of freedom.

And yet again, it was being taken away.

Hinata was perched in a tree, foot propping up an almost half-dead shinobi when she received the scroll from her father, care of the hokage, to return home. She was miles from any hidden village, dried, crusted blood and dirty grime probably half an inch thick on her skin. She fingered the edges of the scroll, deep in thought before she pocketed it, finishing up whittling at an apple. After a bite to the apple, she wiped her mouth, the juices dripping off her chin, and tossed it out, ears listening carefully to the moment it hit the ground to calculate just how high up she and her captured companion were.

"Bye, bye, Konoha bitch."

She grinned, but he couldn't see it. She had blocked his tenketsu points, and the experienced shinobi knew at once she was Hyuuga, knew she was being summoned. _Bye, bye indeed_ , she thought to herself, running the kunai into the middle of his chest. He gurgled, his screams muffled in the blood pouring out of his throat, as she dragged the kunai up in a straight line up his chest, up his neck, up his throat in an agonizingly slow fashion. She released her foot and nudged him, allowing him to drop down, down, down, landing with a sickening thud, and she wiped her kunai on the side of her pants, flipping it expertly and returning it to her pouch, and disappearing with a series of hand seals.

But he was right.

Because no matter how long she refused to return, she still belonged to the Hyuuga. She still belonged to Konoha.

And then the Hokage summoned her to his office alone, after she had barely stepped foot a minute in the village.

"I'm sure you received the news," he started abruptly after she had knelt and bowed her head in attention. "Rise."

She stood at ease with her hands at her side. She nodded, grateful for the owl mask hiding her face. He seemed a bit older, that she could see, but then again, so was she.

He had already dismissed the other ANBU lurking at his side and other staff that usually hovered over him, and they were truly alone. He was sitting forward with his chin on his hands, fingers brushing his mask at the edge of his jaw in deep thought.

"Thank you, Owl-san, for your duties. I've watched you grow from a student, to a genin, to a capable shinobi, and I appreciate your time here in the ANBU ranks protecting me and the village as well. But... as the hokage's wife, you would normally be relieved of your duties."

She could hardly contain the gritting of her teeth, and she was positive he could see her defenses steeling up around her. "I understand."

"However," he continued, "I would hate to take away from you the last thing you were able to choose for yourself." Hinata was a taken aback by the sheer _thoughtfulness_ of it. What did it mean, if she was going to marry him anyway? He cleared his throat as the silence grew, their thoughts the only noise inside their own heads. "Therefore, I have proposed to have you as my own ANBU here, directly at my side, instead. A sort of, compromise."

"A compromise," she heard herself echo.

He nodded. "Undoubtedly, it would consist of far less action, one would think, than being out in the field. Though from time to time, you would need to step out of your uniform and do whatever role the elders decide the hokage's wife needs to do at the time."

Hokage's wife's duties. What were those anyway? Sitting around to look pretty? She barely remembered ever seeing Hiruzen's wife as a child. What was there to do at a kage's side when the kage himself was more skilled than she was?

"Thank you," she bowed her head, wondering if she was really grateful to have even a shred of her own will in this decision. Somewhere in her mind, she knew this was his way of considering her and validating her as an individual, but then, maybe she was giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt. "Hokage-sama."

After a long silence, he had sighed and leaned back in his chair, sagging, almost melting into it. He had never looked as weary as he did at that moment. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Sorry?" She was a little surprised at his open behavior.

"What you can you get from an old man like me, eh?" He chuckled. "I know you loved someone else once upon a time, had other plans for your life. But politics...isn't as easy as it seems, as you know. There's the council of the elders, clan leaders, amongst other things." His eyes drifted to the window as he trailed off. He sighed another long sigh. "Trust me, I'm having a hard time wanting to accept this just as much as you."

She took a step forward, regretting that she sounded too ungrateful. "Kakashi-sensei —"

"Uh-uh," he wagged his finger at her, dark gray eyes dragging back to meet hers behind the mask. "Not 'sensei' anymore, Hinata. Just Kakashi."

"Kakashi…" she hesitated, raising her palm to her face, removing the mask. After years behind her mask, she felt naked without it. But as he had showed her his true feelings, she would hers - or as much as she had left at this point. He looked a little surprised to see how much she had changed. Her face was different than the innocent one he remembered of her youth, as his was with the lines of time beginning to wrinkle his skin. As much as she hated to think about it, in his own way, he was already attempting to include her in his life. He was already showing her that he would try his best, and so would she. That would be her new, and last, mission, she decided. "I pledge to make this union an honor to my family and to the village."

"Ah, spoken like a true kunoichi." He gave her a fond smile, eyes softening a little, but the weariness, never truly dissipating. "You may go, Hinata," Kakashi motioned with his hand towards the door. "The planning has already begun."

She hadn't worn civilian clothes in years, and the soft fabric felt foreign on her. The sight of her old friends should have been filled with happiness, yet the words of greeting felt hollow. She barely exchanged words with her father, and most of her belongings in her household had already been dumped, or sent to Kurenai's under Hanabi's direction. She did, however, accept the embraces freely from her former's sensei's child, in awe at how much she had grown and marveling at how the small chubby legs and arms of babyhood had lengthened into a sturdy, spitfire of a young girl.

"So, I heard we have a wedding to plan," Kurenai's red eyes sparkled with warmth, empathy, and love, and the familiarity cracked the wall she had carefully built over the last few years.

She allowed a tiny, hesitant smile. "So we do."

* * *

 _A/N: Wanted to try my hand at KakaHina. It was supposed to be a long one-shot, but I couldn't finish some parts of it, so I'll upload one chapter at a time. Maybe I'll get inspired as I go. Also, I have a thing for cold!Hinata, ruthless!Hinata, ANBU!Hinata, take-no-bullshit!Hinata._


	2. Chapter 2

The wedding day came and went with not much help, besides financial, from the Hyuuga. Even still, many of the decisions were not hers, as if most of the planning had already been done in advance. The flowers, they said matched her eyes. The decorations, her hair. The silks and cloth that draped her, imported, and the most luxurious to ever touch her skin. The makeup, of highest quality, exquisitely beautiful on her porcelain skin, staining her lips, cheeks, and eyes like wine and ink.

She was a bit rusty in her propriety, in speech and in manner, though she had spent time reviewing with Kurenai. And when she looked, she did not recognize the woman in the mirror. Her eyes were dull and flat, and her skin was sallow underneath the paint, even in the fresh spring light and air, from hiding behind her mask and in the shadows. There was a time where she would have basked in the aroma of the blossoms that surrounded her, but now, they only seem to suffocate her.

It was no doubt an occasion filled with excitement, a day to remember, and one of the most grandiose weddings in history, by shinobi standards, one any young girl could only dream about. One that, lifetimes ago, she would've wanted for herself.

Hinata saw the pride plastered stupidly on the faces of her clan members, when they had no more than glanced her way the entire time she had returned home, much less during the ceremony. She could barely contain rolling her eyes at hearing how "Hinata, firstborn daughter of Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan, was representing her family in the most honorable way by being given to the most esteemed Hokage of Konohagakure" and other superfluous comments she heard them utter to foreigners and other visitors who had attended. The bile she tasted in the back of her mouth burned her already empty stomach, and she cursed her superiorly trained hearing as she was forced to listen to these words that were only used to chain her to them.

She wondered what her face looked like to those who looked on. Another mask, maybe, but this time, not an owl. Kakashi's seemed as serene as it could be, both of them going through practiced motions.

 _This is what Uzumaki Mito must have felt like_ , she thought absentmindedly amidst thunderous applause, her hand cradled delicately in the crook of her new husband's arm when they were finally announced, though she was hardly as special as she was, as the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi at the time. At least Kushina had loved her husband.

She was in the middle of exchanging words with a horrifyingly long procession of guests when she felt a small tug at the back of her kimono.

Familiar, sparkling emerald eyes on a round face framed by familiar golden locks stared curiously up at her. "Kaka-jii?" The young child babbled.

 _The blond._

It was like a forgotten reflex within her, like a wet match trying to spark a flame, wanting her heart to stop or break apart into a thousand pieces, and she puzzled at it, before she remembered to stretch her lips in greeting as not to frighten the child.

 _The green._

Interrupting her, Kakashi bent down and whisked him up into his arms. "Ah, Shinachiku-kun." The toddler giggled happily as her new husband bounced him. "Have you come to say hi?" Somewhere inside her, she mused at how comfortable the normally expressionless man was with the child.

"Shina-chan, there you are!"

 _The voice._ Her head turned in the direction of its owner, who had come to join them.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!" Whiskered cheeks and a blindingly orange yukata and even brighter blue eyes appeared in her vision.

"Ah, Hinata!"

 _The smile. The laugh._

"Congratulations!"

He wrapped her up in a big hug that would have melted her years ago, burying his face in her hair. The breath that rushed by her ears that would have set goosebumps down her spine.

 _The touch._

His smile faltered, and his eyes dimmed a bit at her stiffness as he set her down. She stared at him with blank eyes that were only unfamiliar to him. The hard lines of her face was like a stranger.

 _Na-ru-to._ The muscles in her face and lips formed the once-familiar word, yet the muscles in her throat could not force the air out of her mouth to say it. His was the first name she had erased, his was the first smile, the first face.

What did she see there now as she watched him study her? Uneasiness? Concern? Guilt?

Unsettled, he turned instead and scooped his son up from Kakashi, who was watching Hinata intently, and placed him in the arms of his wife, who had come to join them. "There ya go, Shina. Back to mama."

 _The pink._

The renowned medic took one of her son's chubby arms and waved it at the new couple. "Congratulations, Hinata, Kakashi-sensei!" She gave them both a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "We'll you see you two at the reception. Don't want to hold up the line or anything."

She stood silent, waiting for the blond, the blue, the pink, the green, the orange, the voice, the laugh, the touch—waiting for it all to hit her with a force like a tsunami. For her breath to stop, the pain to start, her face to flush, her eyes to drop, her voice to stammer, her fingers to fidget, the tears to fall—

But nothing came.

She felt nothing.

She almost choked out a sarcastic laugh. Ah. This is what it means to grow up.

 _Well, done, Hinata_ , she congratulated herself.

Instead, she bowed politely and with that same, practiced, small, tight smile, and with the same, practiced words, she said with the same tone she had greeted every guest before them, "Thank you."

The muscles in her face began to ache as she held the false smile for the remainder of the night, weak from years of misuse. She received endless embraces and kisses from her friends and esteemed guests, the most physical contact she had allowed since she was a teenager, thanking them with false cheer when they all praised how beautiful she was, how happy they were for her.

She was more than grateful to be alone when it was all over. Or alone - with Kakashi. It was their wedding night, after all, and the start of a honeymoon trip courtesy of the hidden villages.

Hinata had heard many things about him. That he was very sexually experienced. There were many tales and rumors of his encounters. She was still but a girl in those matters compared to him. Her repertoire of sexual encounters were limited, not counting those advances she used on missions. She herself had been guilty of a few one night stands, amongst other lovemakings, yet the thought of being willingly intimate with another man made her skin crawl with unwanted memories.

He had been very kind to her, gentle even. There had been times almost as if he was scared she would reject him, being cautious with his words, his touch light on her arm as they presented themselves as a picturesque couple.

A hokage, sensei, prodigy aside — Kakashi-sensei was a _man_. She tilted her head to receive the warm sake to her lips faster.

They were drinking after a night in the onsen and a bountiful dinner wrapped in matching robes, courtesy of the hotel and resort, chatting about all the nice gifts they had received. They spoke about how good the food was at their reception and how nice it was to see their friends from other villages.

It was not their first time being intoxicated in the same vicinity, yet they realized how high their tolerance had grown over the years when the first few bottles of sake did nothing but heighten their anxiety. Hinata was more surprised than Kakashi. She hadn't thought time she spent in the bars drinking with other ANBU members after missions had affected her that much.

But after more crates of various alcohol choices had been ordered into the room, it began to ease their conversation, and Hinata found herself relaxing around him, even laughing a little at his jokes. The tension seemed to disappear from Kakashi's shoulders as well as she responded almost naturally to him the longer the night went on.

It was later in the night, almost at early morning, when Hinata sat propped against the open sliding door, feeling the cool air enter the room and watching the stars twinkling in the night sky, matching the overly exquisite diamond on her left ring finger, a piece of jewelry she knew Kakashi had no hand in choosing. It weigh on her like an anchor to an sinking ship, and it looked too pretty on her scarred, calloused hand. She frowned, stuffing it under her bottom, hiding it from her view.

"Hinata," Kakashi sat down next to her with one leg extended and the other bent, where he placed his elbow lazily.

She peered up at him, her head tilting heavily with alcohol. "Mm?" The skin on his cheeks were almost as flushed as hers.

Kakashi took a long deep breath. "The life we have is short, as shinobi," he began. "Many of our peers, well mine mostly, never got to have this opportunity - the opportunity of extra time. To have a family, to grow old. And I know this isn't what either of us wanted. But we don't have to spend the rest of our lives being miserable because of it." It was a heavy influx of words and it took Hinata a moment to process all of it.

"So I've been thinking, it's probably time for us to address the issue." For a moment, he sounded like the old sensei she remembered, and her reflexes immediately made her listen. "I mean, we're both perfectly mature adults."

He turned his head and looked her right in the eye. "What do you want out of this marriage, Hinata?"

Her brow furrowed and she opened her mouth to speak. "I - "

Kakashi rambled on, interrupting her, "What do you want from me? I know it won't be love. I'm not the man you want, not even the one you deserve. But if we're going to do this, I just want you to be honest with me. Right from the beginning." He took another sip of his sake.

"If anything comes out of this marriage, I assure you it will be honesty, trust, and respect," he continued. "I want to know who you are and I want you to know who I am. Not the legends you heard about, the teacher you knew as a student. And I don't want to think about you in terms of numbers of kills and missions completed, or as the Hyuuga girl, or Kurenai's student. Because no matter how hard we try to escape it, we're more than that." Another sip.

"That being said," He motioned for her to speak. "What, Hinata, do you want out of this marriage?"

The room was silent again, with only the sound of the crickets chirping outside. Hinata had frozen, a million incoherent semblances of thoughts flooding her hazy brain. His words seem to echo through her mind as she registered what he was asking, more so why he was asking her. As if he actually cared. And if so, why he did.

"Maybe this was a bit too much for the first night, eh?" He sighed, smiling apologetically. "It was better in my head. Never mind. We'll think on it. Talk about it tomorrow." Kakashi stood up slowly, cracking his back and yawning into the crook of his elbow.

After a long moment of silence, Hinata began slowly, "Honestly?"

"Honestly." Kakashi repeated.

She paused. "Out of this marriage, I don't know." She saw him sag a little from the corner of her eyes.

"From you," her gaze dropped to her lap where she was squeezing her cup. "I want you… to be someone who listens."

Someone who didn't say they knew what was best for her. Who waited until she was done talking. Who spoke to her like her opinion mattered. Who didn't talk down to her.

"Yes," she murmured into the cup as she took a sip. "Someone who listens."

He nodded thoughtfully. "For me, a companion, and maybe, a friend, by the time one of us dies." Kakashi smiled. "Probably me."

"A friend...would be nice."

"You are going to spend an awful lot of time around me," he warned. "I'd hope we'd become friends by the end of it."

That made her crack a small grin.

"For now," Kakashi continued, sweeping his arms out to motion to the large room, "we'll just have to take it one step at a time." He held out his hand to her, offering to help her up.

She hesitated, staring at his open palm.

Kakashi sighed. "You know we don't have to do anything until you're comfortable. I hope you know I would never force myself on you."

"Thank you," Hinata murmured.

"I'm not just some old pervert, you know." He grinned. "Despite the rumors."

She blushed. "I never thought —"

"Oh, there's the old Hinata." Kakashi chuckled, reaching out to pat her on the head. "Welcome back. I hope to see her more often."

She wondered a little what he meant by that as she watched him clamor next to the table to pour himself another drink and plop himself on the floor with a contented sigh. She loathed everything she used to be - naive, trusting, hopeful. All thoughts were pushed aside, however, when he beckoned her over, "Come on, come on. Have you ever played Tsunade-sama's favorite drinking game? I've never lost it."

Hinata rose, her skin prickling with the challenge as she made her way next to him, taking the full cup he had poured for her and toasting his as she stated, "As far as I've heard, you've never won it either."

They shared the futon that night, the warmth of their skin lulling themselves to sleep. When she woke up, it was to his face. Fully unmasked. Somehow he had ended up throwing an arm around her and she had instinctively buried her face in his chest. Hinata almost had the breath knocked out of her in awe as she studied the utter handsomeness of his face. To his sharp, angled jaw roughened with stubble, the perfect bridge of his nose. The point of his chin. The lashes that looked impossibly thick to belong to a man. The ragged scar running down his eye that seemed to be the only imperfection, aside from a few lines wrinkling the skin around his eyes. A beauty mark that only served to pull her attention to the swell of his lips that were parted in slumber. To think this man, her former teacher, this _much_ older man, was beside her in the _same bed_ , the _Hokage_ , her _superior_ , holding her so intimately —

"S-sensei — !" She managed to croak with her dry throat when he peeled one eye back. He must have noticed her body stiffen.

"Hmm?" He hummed sleepily.

"Your mask!"

He grinned, and she saw truly how beautiful his smile was. "Well, somebody should have gotten naked tonight," he shrugged. "Might as well have been me."

Her eyes widened in a panic, the blood rushing to her face as her gaze dropped down his blanket-covered body for a millisecond before returning to his face. She hadn't not noticed the bare expanse of his muscled chest and arms.

"Not all the way," he assured her, trying to bring her closer.

Her fingers splayed out on his chest as she pushed him back, attempting to get up. "W-wait! I-I-!" The now-obvious pounding in her head increased and she groaned, falling limply back into his embrace.

"It's my one and only wedding night, Hinata," Kakashi murmured gruffly. "I promised you I wouldn't do anything yet. Please let me have the pleasure of at least feeling the warmth of my wife against my skin."

Her face heated even more at the word 'pleasure,' but allowed him to pull her close again. Her lips turned down as she tried to ignore the feel of his chiseled muscles against her skin. Suddenly, she was self-conscious and tried to pull the sleeping yukata around the breast that threatened to spill out.

He surprised her even more when he pulled it around her himself. He chuckled, "As deadly as they say you are, you're still shy, sweet Hinata somewhere in there." He pressed his head closer to hers, his silvery strands burying into her shiny, indigo locks. "Though I know how hard you tried to leave that behind."

She stilled, finally believing that he would take his time with her, starting with her body. Hinata swallowed. "Thank you," she whispered into his cheek, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself, trying to suppress the urge to escape and run, trying not to fight the intimacy that he was showing her, the intimacy that she had come to correlate with anxiety.

She could see the outlines of raised scars and burns scattered throughout his skin, just like she had, and when her eyes were done tracing the outline of his body, they fell on his matching tattoo. Hinata relaxed. Yes, that's right. He had been in ANBU, too. Maybe he knew a little more about how she felt and maybe...maybe they had more in common than she thought.

"Get some more rest, Hinata," Kakashi whispered back. "Our honeymoon has only just begun."


	3. Chapter 3

They treated their honeymoon as a vacation, since the expenses were fully paid jointly by all five of the hidden villages. As shinobi, they never truly knew the meaning of relaxation or how to enjoy free time, so they relished the experiences of seeing new places and trying new foods. Every night, they relaxed with sake or tea, telling stories unknown to each other, and fell asleep together. Hinata allowed herself to unwind a little, smile a little. He was surprisingly funny, and he seemed to be genuinely entertained by the activities that were planned on their itinerary. They were provided clothes and gifts at almost every stop. With their new camera, they even took pictures like actual newlyweds, and Hinata mused at how their honeymoon actually seemed like prolonged date as she absentmindedly watched Kakashi buy them both desserts. A few middle-aged women giggled and tried to flirt with him before he said something apologetically and made his way back to her. They gasped in surprise and whispered between themselves as Hinata took the sweet crepe, thanking Kakashi, and locking eyes with them — more out of curiosity than anything.

They scampered off as they recognized her pupil-less eyes, and she took a bite. "They must be wondering what a young girl like me is doing with a much desired man — the Hokage of Konohagakure at that."

"Ah, but I have eyes for only one woman," he winked, reaching out to steal a strawberry drenched in chocolate. "Now smile, my pretty wife."

Hinata turned as Kakashi snapped another quick picture, placing the strawberry in her mouth as the camera flashed. She frowned, her mouth snapping shut to chew. "I mmwasn't ready," she said, mouth full.

He grinned, wiping a bit of chocolate off the corner of her mouth with his thumb. "Those ones are the best, ne?"

It was a time to forget about their responsibilities and burdens before they returned to their work duties for the first time as husband and wife.

When their new life finally felt real, like waking up after a dream.

In the dark morning on their first day back, at the time when she usually rose for her daily routine, her husband still snored lightly on the bed next to her.

He only shifted, frowning a little, as her warmth left him.

She did a quick set of katas and finished it off with some yoga and meditation, one trained eye utilizing the byakugan to monitor her surroundings. It was still strange, waking up in their new home next to her new husband, strapping her armor around her limbs, not miles away in the middle of nowhere, but here in her own village. It felt silly, too, knowing that he would put up a better fight against any enemies than she could for him. As she showered, letting the steam engulf her, she wondered where the line between wife and bodyguard started and ended. When the sun rose? When she woke?

She dedicated a bit of her reserve chakra to create a shadow clone to keep up the appearances of a proper housewife — at least until after she returned home. Her clone stared back at her and Hinata tucked a strand of the clone's hair behind her ear and studied her handiwork. She had on a simple, but elegant yukata, one that was reminiscent of the ones her mother used to wear. "Don't scare him too much, ne?" she chuckled dryly. "And don't forget to smile."

The clone's lips stretched widely, almost like a caricature, before it nodded and turned towards the kitchen.

Hinata did a quick patrol, reacquainting herself with the nooks and crannies of the village (which was somehow both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time), all the while with her husband in her extended vision, and then once around the hokage tower, before dropping in from rafters, landing without a sound in the hokage's office.

"Welcome back," a voice welcomed her.

She rose from her crouched position, body not quite relaxed, not quite tense, as she straightened up to full height. The early morning light was beginning to stream through the huge windows, yet her husband was not yet there.

A shadow, nonchalant in his posture against the desk, lifted his head towards her. "Owl-san," he murmured softly. "On time, as expected."

She immediately doused the old flame that sparked within her core with his familiar presence, quenched the chakra that flared as it recognized his. Hinata had already replaced his face in her memories with just that of his mask — empty and unseeing, incapable of emotion, just like it symbolized the person behind it to be. The scar they shared, raw in its edges, just right above the left side of the heart, tingled as the memories she had carefully stored over time to began to trickle out. Of battle-worn days together, tedious, endless stakeouts. Nights together, fighting for their last breaths, carrying each other through storms. Successful captures and kills, reading and knowing each other like the back of each other's hand. And her final one of him being sent back to Konoha by himself after he was fatally wounded and her getting a scroll finding out he wasn't coming back…because he would be stationed in Suna with the kazekage's sister. She received another scroll a year later stating that he had resigned from ANBU because he would be getting married. She never took another teammate again.

In the bustle of the wedding planning, it had slipped her mind that he would be working alongside Kakashi. Not that she thought there was someone else who would've been a better advisor, but that time and fate had somehow aligned for them to meet again. She vaguely remembered seeing an outline of his form at their wedding reception amidst the rest of the congratulations.

Hinata wondered what the word was for someone who had been more than a friend, less than a lover, and she decided it didn't matter.

He had been just a teammate, in the end.

He had been just all they'd ever allowed themselves to be.

"You know what they say," she said, her voice morphed in the concealment jutsu she used on the job. "Early bird catches the worm." She tapped the beak of her mask.

He snorted. "Glad to be working with you," he said gruffly. He shifted his weight. In discomfort, she knew. The angle to the tilt of his head, the jut of his lip, the slight wrinkle in his brow — all indicating he was itching to be elsewhere. It was hard to completely forget someone's characteristics once they've been ingrained in your memory. "Again."

She nodded, though she knew 'glad' wasn't a word to describe the feeling that had come over them since she presented herself. "As with you."

He lifted himself off of the desk and strode slowly towards her. "How was your honeymoon?" He looked like he wanted to embrace her or touch her shoulder or her face or say something else, but his hands remained in his pockets. His dark eyes seemed to be burning, and Hinata realized that he probably hadn't heard about her well-being for a long time either.

She tilted her head. "And yours? Deer-san?" she asked with her normal voice. "Sorry, I never got to ask. Never got to send my regards, as it were."

Shikamaru seemed to freeze for a moment as the familiar sound of her voice chilled him and her words even more. He pressed his lips together before he smiled wryly, sadly, and their bodies turned instinctively towards the door before the hokage even put his hand on the doorknob.

"Shikamaru, Owl-san, ohaiyo," Kakashi greeted, seeming to float in through the door.

"You're late, Kakashi," Shikamaru muttered.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life…" he trailed off, making his way to his desk. Kakashi seemed to feel the tension in the quiet room as he sunk into his chair. His dark eyes went between two of who would be his most trusted people, standing in attention in front of him, waiting for him to speak. Kakashi started slowly, "I hope this won't be too much of a distraction."

"Not at all," Hinata said smoothly, raising her head pointedly at the advisor.

Shikamaru nodded, eyes boring into the carved eyes of the Owl. "We've never been anything short of professional." His gaze returned to the hokage. "Haven't we?"

"Yes," Kakashi noted the stiffness in their postures. "Of course." He inhaled a quick breath and asked, "First order of duty?"

Shikamaru moved to sweep up some papers from the edge of the table, studying its contents as his face became a smooth, blank slate. "Meeting with elders."

While he caught Kakashi up to speed of what went on in the village while they were gone, Hinata came to stand behind Kakashi. She realized that Kakashi had probably been the one to send him to Suna in the first place and wondered how much else he knew about their past. Shaking her head, she calmed the lability of her chakra, letting her ANBU instincts quell any free thoughts and emotion, and allowed herself to disappear.

Being directly at the hokage's side was, as Kakashi said, as mundane as it sounded. The politics bored her, yet she was familiar with its workings, growing up as a Hyuuga. Who honestly would ever dare threaten a kage, and Konohagakure's at that? The village where arguably the strongest shinobi were produced? They already a handful of ANBU watching anyway, though their chakra was as hidden as hers. It was hard to imagine what she would be doing otherwise as Kakashi's wife (even as her shadow clone was obediently doing laundry leftover from the honeymoon), so she endured the day as it seemed to drag on and on, trying to get a feel of the routine that would be the rest of her life. Few minutes in the office, with the elders. Meeting with clan heads, going over proposals for the village. Following him from here to there, seeing whoever needed to be seen next. Answering letters, overseeing new constructions. Approving this, responding to that. Assigning various shinobi missions, while the mountain of paperwork grew higher and higher. And though she essentially did nothing, she still felt exhausted.

"Well, I'll head home first," Shikamaru said, when the shadows were finally lengthening in the early evening. "We'll finish the rest tomorrow." He placed the papers in his hand in a folder and then shoved it in the drawer. His eyes drifted to the corners of the walls before he turned and made his way out.

Kakashi finished straightening a stack of papers, tapping the thick pile against the desk and called after him, "Thanks for your work, Shikamaru," as he closed the door behind him.

"You'll be okay? With things like this?" Kakashi asked the empty room, once they were alone. It echoed with his voice, until he cleared his throat. "Hinata?"

Her body flickered, appearing right in front of him. "Yes. It will be fine."

Kakashi reached out to push her mask up from her face, revealing her blank expression. "Honesty, Hinata. Remember?"

"Trust me. It will be fine. He...was a different life. You are mine now," she said sincerely.

"I wondered whose reunion you'd take harder."

She shrugged at the images of the both the blond jinchuuriki and shadow user that appeared in her thoughts. "I haven't been affected for a long time. Besides," she continued, her face still schooled to indifference as she whisked the images away. "I'll be seeing them both very often, won't I?"

"I'm sorry. If I had known —"

"You don't have to be sorry. It's all part of the job. He had to do what he had to do. As did I."

Kakashi's eyes softened. "You've grown quite well, haven't you?"

She looked away, and the subject was dropped.

Understanding passed through them in the silence as they eased into the roles they had learned while on their honeymoon. Him, less of a politician, and her, less of a soldier. "Will we… go home together?" she asked uncomfortably.

"Let's." He smiled. "Or — as 'together' as we can." His eyes traveled in a line from her mask, to her armored vest and sandals, and back up again, and Hinata knew she was comparing her current self with the other she presented in her clone. He looked like he was trying to suppress a laugh. "I suppose you are technically already at home. Ichiraku's?"

She turned her lips down in a frown. "Maybe not."

"I thought you liked Ichiraku's."

"There are many things I used to like," she said pointedly.

"Hmm, I think my little wife has been spoiled a bit from her honeymoon," Kakashi reached out for his robes throwing his arms into the sleeves as they walked out. "We don't have nearly as much options here as we did."

"I didn't cook anything," she mumbled, replacing the mask back on her face as the shadow clone at home who was busy unpacking the rest of their luggage poofed from existence.

"My 'other wife' isn't quite as efficient as you now is she?" Kakashi cocked his head. "Yakiniku?"

"Too public." Hinata shuddered thinking about all the people that would greet them. "Is it okay for me to go out like this in plain site?" She motioned with a sweep of her hand to her uniform.

"Sushi then. After we go home and change. And then we'll go grocery shopping." Kakashi stuffed his hands on his pockets. Hinata noted the orange book in one of his back pockets that he, surprisingly, hadn't touched. "What do you like to eat?"

"I haven't had much of an appetite, really."

"Either way, we need to fill up the cupboards and shelves in our new home." He walked in silence thoughtfully in the direction of said home before he asked, "I don't suppose you like eating cup ramen either do you?"

She frowned. "Is that all you've been eating on your own?"

"It's no different than the standard-issue shinobi dried food packets you've taken a liking to."

She grunted guiltily.

"And packaged sweets."

Hinata disappeared, hiding her chakra once more, and Kakashi chuckled again. "I'll see you at home, dear."

She was already dressed and ready by the time Kakashi sauntered into their room, though this time she was in a plain, black long sleeve shirt and plain black pants. She slipped her feet into a pair of her less worn sandals and was tying her hair in a low ponytail as Kakashi put his hokage robe on a hanger next to her ANBU uniform. "Your vest is in the laundry room."

"Thank you, dear," Kakashi said. He could feel her bristling at the term even as he left the room. When he reached their front door, she was frowning as she waited. "What else can I call you? 'Wife' seems too impersonal."

"Hinata?" she enunciated slowly, as though it was obvious, the door locking behind them.

He sighed. "Hinata as student and Hinata as shinobi and Hinata as wife still has some time to come around and become just one Hinata in my head," he admitted, giving her an apologetic smile. "I was hoping saying something like that would make it more convincing. I thought it'd be easier, with the honeymoon..." he trailed off, one hand scratching the back of his head.

She pursed her lips in thought but then exhaled a quick breath in agreement as they fell in step together. "You're right." She was still having a hard time telling herself that Kakashi the man she had grown up with, the man she served, the man beside her in bed, and the man in front of her now was all the same person. Just yesterday, she was still wrapping her mind around the fact that he was her husband, and as soon as she woke up, he was her assignment and superior, and now, he went back to being just her husband. It was confusing to recognize the switch and ignore it because it wasn't supposed to matter anymore. Somehow knowing he was struggling too made it a bit easier and she angled her head to give him a small smile she hoped looked reassuring at least.

His shoulders relaxed. "Then, how was your day, Hinata?"


End file.
